We're Expecting....

........more creatures at our house! Ha! Did I get you on that one? Really, don't you think 3 kids are plenty? Yes, I thought so!

DJB got this praying mantis kit for Christmas from Uncle B and Aunt J. We needed to order the egg case from New York and I had been putting off since Christmas because they cost twice as much in the winter time than they do in the summer time. Uncle B felt sorry for the boy so said he would spring for them so we ordered them in the hopes they would "patch" (as DJB says) by his birthday later this month.

I should have recorded the giggles of excitement and the huge anticipation of opening the mysterious envelope! It was great!

The vial on the left is the egg case which is supposed to patch 150-200 mantis nymphs and the vial on the right is their food of flightless fruit flies but they arrived dead. I don't know what that blue stuff is. Maybe it's the fruit flies food ????

This is their habitat.

The directions told us to find a stick to attach the egg case onto...DJB found a small log instead. It'll do. The little nut looking thing on the end of the white string is the egg case.

Yesterday while we were picking up dog food I decided to ask the reptile keeper at the pet store if they carried cricket nymphs as it was a second suggested source of food for the mantis nymphs. After we discussed what exactly we had and we were going to do, he began to lecture me that I couldn't just let 200 praying manti (plural ?) into the wild without first contacting the AZ Wildlife Foundation! Whatever dude! AZ was not included on the "do not send to" state list so there! Like they are all going to live anyway. Pftt! So we walked away. In the dog food isle, the dude found me again and handed me a vial of very live flightless fruit flies complete with larva which was exactly the same thing that had come with the egg case to begin with. So, good I thought, their food is taken care of if they ever decide to patch! But of course Mr. Dude reptile keeper couldn't help but get the last word....once again he preached that I could not just let 150,000 praying manti into the wild! Dude, weren't you listening to me I said 150-200. Sheesh and shut it!

Last year we did a similar kit that was 5 Painted lady butterflies. It too started at larva and the kids had a blast watching their life cycles. We of course let them go into the wild *gasp*. I wonder if AZ is now totally overpopulated with butterflies and has some new kind of disease or insect problem because of it?

So wish us luck that at least a couple will patch....we'll keep you posted!